The Smallest Sparrow
Major edits* Prologue Kestrel tore through the forest. She didn't know where she was going. She didn't even know if her dragonets were with her...she thought she could hear the pound of their tiny footsteps somewhere behind her and the pant of their ragged breaths, but she didn't dare look back. Because if they weren't there, she didn't know what she would do. Kestrel whipped around a corner and a dragonet cried, "Mommy!" Don't look back. Don't look back. Don't... Kestrel hastily glanced around as she skidded to a halt. She was surrounded by unfamiliar pine trees, and their sweet scent filled her nose as her eyes found her daughter. "Where's your brother?" she hissed. "I don't know," the young dragonet cried. She reached for her mother, who jumped back in disgust. "Stay away from me, you little monster." Her daughter's quiet sobs wrenched at Kestrel's heart, but she had to be tough on them. If they were given special treatment, then they would go soft. And a soft SkyWing was not a real SkyWing. "Cold, hard, and flawless," Kestrel said roughly, repeating the words that her mother had drilled into her skull. "Like a jewel. Remember that, no matter what happens." She wished she could grab her daughter by the shoulders and force it into her mind, but just then, her son came tumbling into the clearing. "Mommy!" he sobbed. "Mommy!" "What do you think you're doing, running off like that?" Kestrel growled, pacing. Soar was supposed to meet them and find them a long time ago, before Kestrel got lost in the icy peaks of the mountains. She wished she could slash her claws across Soar's smug face. "Mommy, there's baaaaaaad dwagons," her son wailed, burying his snout into Kestrel's scales and ignoring her vain attempts at escape. "They chase-ed me and chase-ed me and I no know where to go." "What? Who chased you?" "I no know," the little dragonet cried. Kestrel flicked her ears forwards, and fifteen SkyWings slipped into the clearing, their faces twisted with leers. And in the centre of the troop was Scarlet, her scales wreathed in ever present smoke. I have to escape, Kestrel's mind screamed at her, I have to escape, but I can't carry both of them... Guilt and sorrow wrenched at her heart again. I'm sorry. She grabbed her daughter, the one with the firescales, and hissed back the pain that blossomed in her talons. She could already imagine her scales crumpling to blackened dust as her son's tiny cry of protest stabbed at her ears, and her large wings flapped at the ground as she launched herself into the air. It was all for nothing. Four SkyWings sank their claws into her shoulders and brought her back to the ground. Blood streamed across Kestrel's rust coloured scales and she roared in a pained, panicked frenzy. Scarlet delicately made her way around Kestrel and settled herself in front of her. "Kestrel, Kestrel, Kestrel," the queen hissed, looking as majestic and regal as the day she exiled Kestrel. "I knew you'd try to run with your dragonets. But then again, you've always been a little...disobedient, haven't you, my precious friend?" "I'm not any friend of yours," Kestrel spat, and she shot a burst of flame at the queen. A guard bowled into Scarlet, taking the brunt of the blast. To Kestrel's horror, she saw that it was Avalanche, her one and only sister. Avalanche crumpled to the ground, her scales blackened and charred. Scarlet bared her teeth and her expression grew stonier. Her daughter was crying, her son was wailing, and she couldn't do anything except glare daggers at the queen. "Fine," Scarlet hissed. "Because I am incredibly merciful, you may live." She flicked back her wings and the guards heaved themselves off of Kestrel. "However, you will remain exiled from the Sky Kingdom. Forever." Kestrel knew that Scarlet wasn't sparing her because of any merciful instinct. She was sparing her because she didn't dare cross Kestrel's mother, who was a battle-hardened general and a powerful aristocrat among the SkyWings. At the thought of her mother, Kestrel lifted her chin. I can face Scarlet, Kestrel thought. I can face anything. Scarlet's expression grew menacing. "However, you can only keep one of your dragonets alive." "What?" "You will kill one," Scarlet hissed, her eyes as cold as the gemstones that lined her brows. "And you will keep the other." Kestrel's eyes filled with tears and she blinked them back with a hiss of anger. I can't show any weakness, not now, she thought, and she squared her shoulders. "No." "Then I'll kill both of them." With a snarl, Scarlet launched herself towards the two things that Kestrel loved most with talons extended. "No!" Kestrel shrieked. Her resolve shattered. "No! Don't!" Scarlet turned back with a smug expression. "Fine, then." She flicked her wings delicately. "Choose one, dear. The one with no fire, or the one with too much?" Her tail coiled around her talons and she watched maliciously as Kestrel made her way towards the dragonets. She could see the fear in his eyes, and she would never forget it. Chapter One Sparrow flicked back his wings and flexed his talons. His neck was aching again - like it always did after a long day - and Gecko patted him on the shoulder. "Come along, son," the rangy orange SkyWing said, leading Sparrow towards the sandy hollow that served as a lobby to their spacious house. "I have something to show you." Sparrow stowed his scroll among the other ones in the shelf and hurried after his father. His heart fluttered with excitement. Gecko had just returned from a long day of mining in the Claws of the Clouds Mountains, and he was sure that it was something good. The young dragonet was not disappointed. "See here?" Gecko said, displaying the gemstones. They were rough and a dull pink, but as Sparrow dusted them he saw that they were flawless. "Like a jewel," he said. "You know? Cold, hard, and like a jewel. Like a SkyWing." He folded his wings back and took the precious stone from his father. Once he cleaned it up and polished it, it would sparkle like the dawn of a new day. He hoped. Gecko hissed and smacked his talons away from the gemstone. "Get those claws away!" he growled. "I have a wealthy buyer from the south, and I don't want you wrecking them." He stowed them in a rough crevice inside of a rock, alongside with a cluster of others that looked almost exactly the same. Sparrow winced and felt along his muzzle. It hurt, but not as bad as the ache he felt for not being able to brush his talons on the surface of the gemstones. He loved jewels of any kind, and he wished - he wished - for a way to be able to have as many as he could. Chapter Two Sparrow flipped through the air, stretching his sore muscles. His neck was aching - again. Apparently, when he was a young dragonet, he wandered off into the mines and had an accident, so that he broke his neck. The best healer of Possibility had worked day and night to make sure he survived and healed properly, and now he could move with ease. Except like now. "Ouch." "Who are you?" Sparrow whipped around and saw a beautiful, dark red SkyWing. Her neck arched as she regarded him curiously with jewel red eyes. "I-I'm Sparrow," he stuttered. She was probably older by two or three years, but she was hardly any taller. He wondered where she had come from. "You haven't seen a dark orange SkyWing around here, have you? Her name's Tourmaline, and I haven't seen her in ages." The dragonet frowned, and then she shook out her wings and folded them along her back, giving Sparrow a careful smile. She was a few inches taller, so that he had to look up at her. "Wait, do you mean Princess Tourmaline?" Sparrow stared in astonishment as the dragonet shuffled her talons awkwardly. "Are you royalty?" He saw the bracelets of gold around her wrists and the tail band studded with sapphires, and he bowed his aching neck as neatly as he could. Inside he was berating himself. "Yup. But it's not that big of a deal," the dragonet said, flicking her wings. "I'm Ruby. Princess Ruby. The one with the psychopathic mother." She grinned a grin that was all teeth at Sparrow, and he smiled back. She wasn't too bad, for a royal, he thought. "Sorry, I haven't seen Princess Tourmaline," Sparrow said. "Okay. I'll keep looking." Ruby - no, Princess Ruby - spread long, dark red wings, and then she glanced back. "Bye, Sparrow." "Bye, Princess." She readied herself to take off, but Sparrow stopped her by jabbing her tail with his talon. "Wait, wait," he said, and she turned her head curiously to look at him. "Um. Are you going to come back sometime?" He tried not to look too hopeful as he leaned forwards tentatively. "Are you going to be here sometime?" Ruby asked boldly, cocking her head. "Um...probably?" Ruby blinked. "Then I guess there's a slight chance, probably." She grinned, and then she took off in a swirl of autumn coloured leaves. Sparrow found himself watching her, even as she vanished against the pale blue sky. And then he stared at the sky for a while longer, before hurrying back to the small house among the sandstone. Chapter Three Although Ruby didn't come back for two weeks, Sparrow was able to busy himself with his chores. Like all of the miners' dragonets, he was trained in cutting gemstones so that they were worthy of aristocrat talons. As he made his way back to the mine, laden with a sack of freshly cut jewels, a voice called, "I've been waiting for ages!" and a dark red SkyWing landed in front of him. He nearly dropped the sack as he recognised Ruby. "I thought you weren't coming back!" he said after a hasty and clumsy bow. "How have you been?" "Doing boring queenly stuff, like learning about trade negotiations." Ruby shrugged and touched the sparkling earring in one of her ears. It was a clumsy cut, Sparrow thought with a dissatisfied sniff. Whoever had done that must have had ten left talons. "What's in the sack?" Sparrow shielded it with his wings and glanced around nervously. Although uncommon, bandits had been known to steal the precious cargo from dragonets on their way to the mine shafts. "Don't tell anyone, okay?" he said. Ruby nodded and leaned forwards, her eyes glittering with interest. "This bag is full of gems." "Really?" Ruby gasped. "Are you some sort of treasure thief? Oh, no, wait, you're definitely a pirate!" She paced around him excitedly. "I've never met a real, live pirate before!" "What? No!" Sparrow said, offended. "Why do you think I'm a pirate?" "Because you walk around all hunched over like." Ruby showed her interpretation if it, and then she poked the sack with one jagged claw. "Can you show me? Please?" Distracted, Sparrow took the sack and loosened the rough drawstring. Glittering in all different colours were jewels that were worthy for even a queen. Ruby's eyes shone. "Those are so pretty! Can I - Can I have one?" She asked this hesitantly, and nervously. Sparrow rubbed the back of his neck, which was beginning to hurt yet again. He would have to see Mayfly for another dose of pain-numbing herbs if this kept up. She was the princess, and she was super nice... Feeling slightly guilty, he nodded and gestured for her to choose one. "Okay." Ruby leaned forwards and reached into the bag. A few seconds later she withdrew a small, plain little gem, the exact colour of the sky. "This one, I think," she said. "That's a good one," Sparrow said, peering around her shoulder. "That's lapis lazuli." He withdrew another jewel, eager to show off his skills. "And this one is agate, and this clear one right here, it's called ametrine." "Are you kidding me?" Ruby said, stowing it in a small pouch tied around her foreleg. "You actually know the names of different gemstones? What kind of SkyWing are you?" She cocked her head and shuffled her wings, then reached into the bag and grabbed at a golden yellow one. "What about this one?" "Beryl," Sparrow said automatically. "This one?" "Calligraphy stone." "And this one?" "Beryl." "And what about...?" "Bloodstone." "Three moons, what is going on here?" a voice snarled. Sparrow and Ruby whipped around in time to see Gecko slip into the clearing, his eyes narrowed .Two other miners accompanied him, and they were all covered with dust and pieces of rock rubble. Clearly they had just returned from the mine. "Princess Ruby," Gecko said, turning to face the royal dragon. He bowed and extended his wings. "It is an honour to have you visit our humble mines. I hope my son wasn't bothering you." "He wasn't," Ruby said, wrinkling her nose. "He was just showing me some jewels." "Sparrow, go back to the house," Gecko hissed. "What? Why?" "Do as I say," Gecko snarled, and his tail whipped across Sparrow's face. Confused and hurt, Sparrow stumbled away. His father only hit him when he was very, very angry, and even then... "No." The voice came from Ruby. She lifted her chin, even if she was dwarfed by the muscular miners, and every inch of her scales screamed royal blood. "I want him to be my jeweller." She flicked her talons dismissively towards Sparrow, as if he was a piece of trash she found on her claws. Gecko sucked in a breath. "I-I..." "He's going to be my jeweller, and you will obey," Ruby said, taking a menacing step forwards. "Do you want my mother to find out that you disobeyed the princess?" Gecko sighed, and then he bowed, along with the other miners, and then he glanced at Sparrow. "Fine. Take him." Sparrow's heart seemed to soar and sink at the same time. Although Gecko was a strict father, he was still his father. Did he really want to get rid of him? Or was he just afraid of Scarlet's wrath if he disobeyed the queen's daughter? Ruby flicked back her wings and jumped into the air. "Come on, Sparrow." Face stinging, Sparrow followed her. And he didn't look back. Chapter Four He wondered, briefly, if following the princess was a good idea. He had met her twice. And in that time, he had talked to her only twice. Work in Progress Category:Fanfictions Category:Fanfictions (Incomplete) Category:Fanfictions (Semi-Canon) Category:Content (Birchfrost22)